Pear Crop Stage Wise IPM

Pre-planting

Common cultural practices:

• Deep ploughing of field during summer.
• Use resistant/tolerant varieties.
• Apply manures and fertilizers as per soil test recommendations.
• Grow the attractant and repellent around the orchard bunds

• Nutrient should be applied on the basis of soil test report and recommendation for the particular agro-climatic zone.
• Prepare land by ploughing and harrowing.
• The pits are dug in summer about a fortnight before planting and left undisturbed for solarization.
• Pits of about 1m x 1m x 1m size are dug at a distance of 6 to 8 meter in square system of planting.

• Deep ploughing of field during summer

Cultural control:

• Proper selection of cultivars, having commercial value and suitable for effective cross pollination be made.
• Deep medium textured and well drained soils may be selected for cultivation of pear. However, they can withstand in soils having high water table and poor aeration.

Planting

• Planting is done in pits already filled with top soil and organic manure during the months of October to December.
• Mycorrhiza culture @ 50 g per pit should be applied at the time of planting or a basket of soil taken from old pear orchard is added to each pit to ensure mycorrhizal association with pear roots.
• At the time of planting, farm yard manures or compost is applied @ 40-50 Kg per plant.

• Use weed free seedlings for planting.
• Remove existing weeds in and around the pits at the time of planting

• Timely sowing should be done.
• Plant material for laying quality fruit orchard should be obtained from registered nursery.
• Avoid planting of saplings infested with scales, borers and diseases.
• Don't grow the nursery at the same site every 24 year.
• Use of disease-resistant rootstock and scion for managing the collar rot.
• For raising of nurseries, the soil selection be made which is free from pest infestation.
• Delay planting until the soil is reasonably dry and plant before the buds begin to burst.
• Growing of flowering plants especially marigold and maize on the peripheries will help in conservation of both predators and parasites. In rich soils, the fertilizer doses may be half or applied on the basis of leaf analysis report.
• Make use of neem cakes while raising plant nurseries to ward off any soil pest.

Vegetative stage 1st year onward

Common cultural practices:

• Collect and destroy diseased and insect infected plant parts.
• Provide irrigation at critical stages of the crop
• Avoid water stagnation conditions.
• Enhance parasitic activity by avoiding chemical spray, when larval parasitoids are observed.
• Keep the orchards healthy following good agricultural practices. Common mechanical practices:
• Collection and destruction of eggs and early stage larvae
• Handpick the older larvae during early stages
• The infested plant part may be collected and destroyed
• Handpick the gregarious caterpillars and the cocoons which are found on stem and destroy them in kerosene mixed water.
• Use yellow sticky traps for aphids and blue sticky traps for thrips @ 4-5 trap/acre.
• Use light trap @ 1/acre and operate between 6 pm and 10 pm
• Install pheromone traps @ 4-5/acre for monitoring adult moths activity (replace the lures with fresh lures after every 2-3 weeks)
• Erecting of bird perches @ 20/acre for encouraging predatory birds such as King crow, common mynah etc.
• Set up bonfire during evening hours at 7-8 pm

• Conserve natural enemies through ecological engineering

• Augmentative release of natural enemies

• Up to 6th year of age, 50 Kg FYM or compost along 25 with 50 to 100 g N + 25 to 50 g P₂O₅ + 50 to 100 g K₂O per plant per year should be applied.
• Nitrogen is applied in 2 splits, first half at 2-3 weeks before flowering and the remaining half a month later.
• The fertilizers should be applied in 20-30 cm deep and 30cms wide trench along the drip line of the tree.

Cultural Control:

• Intercultural operations during the first year to check weed growth.
• Tool weeding should be done on regular basis especially around the plants.
• During the initial 2-4 years, to suppress the weeds between rows, leguminous crops like pea, bean, soybean, and cowpea and vegetables should be be grown
• Use slashing and moving between the rows to control the weeds.
• Use black polyethylene or straw or green mulches to suppress the weed growth between rows.
• Mulching tree basins with 10-15 cm thick dry grass also checks weed growth

• Adopt common cultural, mechanical and biological practices.

Cultural control:

• Collect and kill the beetles in kerosenized water.
• Shake the non-bearing plant/trees over a cloth sheet at dusk and collect and destroy the beetles (defoliating and fruit eating).

Cultural control:

• To reduce the effects of pear decline, use Winter Nelis, Old Home X Farmingdale, or Pyrus betulaefolia seedlings for rootstock and maintain pear psylla populations at low levels.

Cultural control:

• Kill the stem borer larvae by inserting a flexible wire inside the hole and plug the hole with the cotton wick soaked in petrol and seal it with mud.
• Maintain vigour of the tree to keep away borers infestation.

Mechanical control:

• See common practices as in vegetative stage.

• See common practices as in vegetative stage.

Cultural control:

• Regular orchard monitoring for pest & defender population.
• Plant should neither be forced to drought nor water 26 lodging conditions.

Biological control:

• Release of 8 days old Anthocorid bug, Blaptostethuspallescens.
• Neem oil (2%), NSKE (5%)

• See common practices as in vegetative stage.

Cultural control:

• Harvest the ripening fruits and do not allow the ripe fruits on the tree.
• Regular removal of fallen fruits from the ground and bury the infested fruits at last at 60 cm depth.
• Shallow ploughing with cultivator immediately after harvest is effective in exposing and killing the pupating larvae/pupae, which are mostly present 4-6 cm depth.

• Cankers on the trunk and in the crotches should be removed and the dead bark decorticated along with 2 cm of the healthy bark. All the dead wood and pruning bark should be destroyed.
• Cover the wounds with a disinfectant solution and after this apply Bordeaux paste to them. After a week cover the dried paste with Bordeaux paint. The whole operation should be immediately followed by spraying the pruned and canker infected tree with Bordeaux mixture.

• Avoid deep ploughing to avoid injuries to the roots, through which the fungus attacks. Also avoid excessive irrigation during winter.

Cultural control:

• Prune the disease part and burn it.
• Avoiding injury during harvest and packing.

Cultural control:

• Avoid overcrowding of branches
• Pruning cuts should be made close to the branches leaving no stubs.
• Careful use of water and fertilizers input, especially nitrogen to minimize growth of large dense canopies.
• Water only in the morning so that foliage will be dry by the evening.
• Clip off mildewed twigs and destroy them.

• See common practices as in vegetative stage..
• Control insect vectors psylla and aphids.

Flowering/Fruiting stage

• After 6th year the nutrient rates are established at 50 kg FYM, 100 g N, 50 g P2O5 and 100g K2O per plant per year. The farmyard manure should be applied during
• December-January along with full dose of P and K. Nitrogen is applied in 2 splits.
• The band application of nitrogenous fertilizers should be preferred over broadcasting.
• Under rainfed conditions, apply N through 1 or 2 foliar sprays of urea (0.5%) after fruit set.
• Apply recommended micronutrients, if symptoms are observed. Fruits are deformed under boron deficiency.
• To avoid boron deficiency, apply boric acid @ 0.1% as foliar spray.
• The deficiency of Zn and Fe on young foliage can easily be controlled by spraying 0.4 -0.5 % zinc sulphate and ferrous sulphate respectively during April.

• Same as in vegetative stage .

• Same as vegetative stage.

Cultural control:

• Apart from aforesaid practices, regular monitoring is mandatory for moths.
• For codling moth: Use synthetic codlemone for mating disruption at a height of 6-8 feet or Dispensers should be deployed within 1 meter of the top of the canopy prior to spring emergence during late may to 3rd week of July.
• All loose bark of trees should be scraped off to remove overwintering sites for the caterpillars.
• Vicinity of trees should be kept clean of packing cases and all other debris which are likely to shelter the overwintering caterpillars during August to mid October.
• Bands of sacking (gunny bags) or corrugated cardboard about 150 mm. to 240mm. wide, can be tied round the tree trunks by late July till end of October to provide alternative over wintering sites for the caterpillars.
• These bands should be removed during the first week of November and either burnt or immersed in a pail of boiling water or kerosenised water.
• Fallen fruits should be collected throughout the season and buried deep in the soil.

Biological control:

• Release of exotic egg parasitoids Trichogramma embryophagum Htg. andTrichogramma cacoeciae pallidum Meir Trichogramma chilonis (minutum) at the rate of 20,000 adults per50 pear trees/week should be undertaken from first fortnight of June to end of August.
• For others see common practices.

Cultural control:

• Follow proper trimming and pruning of twigs and branches followed by burning.
• Apply urea (2 Kg/acre at pre-leaf fall stage spring and dolomitic lime (2.5 ton/acre) in autumn over fallen leaves to accelerate decomposition.
• For others follow common practices.

Cultural control:

• Plant certified disease-free rootstock, and when planting, take care to avoid injuring the roots and crown.
• When cultivating around trees be careful to avoid injuring the crown and surface roots.

Cultural control:

• Do not allow water to accumulate around tree crowns.
• Provide adequate drainage, and avoid planting in heavy soils, low spots, and areas that flood frequently

Mechanical control:

• Proper pruning should be done to avoid mechanical injury.
• Keep the trees as free as possible from mechanical wounds, winter injury, crotch separation and cankers.
• Cut wounds should be covered with superior white lead paint

Biological control:

• See common biological practices as stated in vegetative stage.

Fruit development (after 20 days of waltnut stage)

• Same as above

• Same as above

Pre harvest stage (20-25 days before harvest)

• Same as above

• Same as above

Postharvest and dormant stage

Mechanical control:

• Take proper care in handling the fruits to avoid bruises.
• Don't delay harvesting of fruits.
• Keep the trees as free as possible from mechanical wounds, winter injury, crotch separation and cankers.
• Collect and destroy the fallen fruits.
• Apply Mashobra paste after cleaning the weeping wounds at the time of dormancy break for the control of bacterial gummosis.
• Remove and destroy all the mummified fruits, dead fruits and pruning from the orchards

Mechanical control:

• Collection and destruction of egg masses of hairy caterpillars especially from the barks of shade trees grown in the vicinity of the orchards be ensured.
• Staple burlap skirts around tree trunks infested with hairy caterpillars and collect the larvae and pupae from May to end of June and ensure their destruction.
• Clean the stem borer hole with flexible wire & apply the recommended chemical..
• Remove the dead bark and frass and apply water proof paint on hard wood to avoid borer attack.
• Complete collection and destruction of foliage and pruned wood in the orchards after leaf fall be made.
• Pruning of suckers and water sprouts be ensured.